Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto or Naruto Shippuden characters/storylines or any affiliated merchandise. All of the previous are owned by Viz Media. Even if they're out of character.

Further Disclaimer: Because I am devoid of any originality or imagination, I "lifted"the format straight out of a role play between me and raendown from Tumblr. She also has a Fanfiction site here. Check her out. She's really good.

Onee-chan

Hinata was a good daughter. There were few positive things that she could say about herself with any certainty but that was one thing she had never doubted, had never let herself fall short on. Hyuga Hinata was a good daughter – because she knew what would happen to her if she were not.

"You are not to speak to her." Her father's voice was cold and sharp, even more so than usual, and just that extra bit distant which meant that he had almost forgotten she was here in the room even as he continued to speak to her. "I will be gone an hour to fetch the inheritance documents she wants and you, Hinata, will stay in your room while I am gone. I will not have her infecting you with ideas and notions so unbecoming of a lady of your station."

"And what if I am hungry, Father?" she asked quietly. After class she had gone straight to violin lessons. From there she had attended her ballet recital. It had been hours since she had eaten anything and she was used to her guardian paying closer attention to what she ate.

The heir to the Hyuga line could not be any less than perfect, after all. Heaven forbid she lose or gain an unwanted pound.

"You may ask the staff to bring dinner to your room, I suppose." Her father was already walking away and Hinata understood that their conversation had ended. Most of their conversations ended this way, with a wordless dismissal and the back of his coattails disappearing around a corner, always leaving her behind and never once thinking to explain to her why.

Hinata closed her eyes and went through one of the breathing exercises she sometimes taught to the younger ballet students. When she opened her eyes again she looked around the room and thought how beautiful her cage was, how comfortable yet cold.

Soft footsteps approached from the opposite end of the hall down which her father had appeared. Thinking it was only the housekeeper, she turned with her most polite smile and folded her hands demurely to present a pleasant image. The house staff were always kinder about indulging her requests if she could ask them with a smile. If she wasn't kind enough, wasn't poised enough, wasn't enough of a perfect lady, not a single one of them would hesitate to carry tales to her father.

As it turned out, it was not the housekeeper who arrived in the doorway. Hinata's polite façade cracked, her jaw dropping open with surprise, when she saw who was there. Somehow she had forgotten what it was like to look at another's face and see her own staring back. Haruko was so far from the young girl she had been when last they saw each other and yet somehow she hadn't changed a bit. She wore her hair long and swept up in to a messy bun. Her clothes were bright, colors Hinata herself could never dream of wearing, and they looked more comfortable that anything the high-end fashion stores could ever produce.

None of that was what truly held Hinata's attention. It was her eyes, bright and laughing like they always had been, a nearly-forgotten cherished memory. Haruko was the spitting image of herself and yet Hinata had never been able to see anything of herself in her twin.

"He hasn't changed," Haruko remarked, jerking her head back towards the hall. Hinata fought against the urge to sway on the spot with so many indescribably emotions.

"Welcome home," was all she could say. Haruko snorted and Hinata winced. Had she said the wrong thing?

"This isn't my home," her twin pointed out. "He kicked me out when I was six. Six. Just because I wanted to have a real childhood and play with the other kids. I don't know how you're still here, to be honest."

Hinata lowered her eyes. "I know. I'm sorry. I should have fought for you more or m-maybe tried to find you. I'm sorry, sister, that I could not be better."

Gentle fingers grasped her chin and she jumped in surprise to find Haruko right there in front of her with the gentle expression of someone trying to calm a wild animal. It was the first time they had touched in thirteen years, the first time they had seen each other since her twin had been sent away to live with some distant relative who had abandoned their traditional family ways decades ago. Yet now that they were finally here together, now was when Hinata felt her heart yearning for her other half the most.

So close and yet so far, as the saying goes.

"You were also only six years old too," Haruko told her. Unable to think of how to respond, Hinata frantically checked the doorway and fell back on what she knew best: behaving.

"F-father said that I am not to speak to you."

"Well your father can suck a dick."

"He is your father too!"

"No," Haruko's voice cracked like a whip. "He's nothing to me. And I'll bet he's little more than that to you. Just answer me one thing, one question Hinata, and I will leave you be. Does he make you feel like he loves you?"

If Hinata had an answer for that it would not be a pleasant one. She stared helplessly at Haruko as her sister nodded in understanding, no judgement in her expression but a strangely comforting sort of sadness in her eyes. Were she any less trained in the arts of suppressing herself she might have allowed herself to cry right there but Hinata had been the sole focus of her father's search for perfection since she was but a child. She wasn't sure she remembered how to cry.

"Don't look so sad," Haruko murmured, like it wasn't her words that brought this on. "I'm sorry."

"There's no need to be sorry. You're right."

"Yeah, well, sometimes it sucks to be right. Look, I should go before anyone catches us talking."

Fear lanced through her and Hinata thoughtlessly reached out to touch her sister's arm. "No, please wait…" Haruko caught her hand and held it tightly, shaking her head but smiling in a reassuring manner.

"I don't want to cause trouble for you right now but…Hinata I swear. If you want me to – if it's what you want – I swear I'll come back for you. I'll find a way for us to see each other again. Would you…do you think you might want that?" For the first time since entering the room, Haruko looked unsure of herself. Hinata barely even had to consider it.

"Yes. I want that."

"Oh thank god," Haruko said with a quiet laugh. "I've missed you, you know?"

Without giving Hinata any time to say the same, Haruko turned and hurried towards the hall, looking both ways to make sure the coast was clear and then disappearing with a silent wink thrown over her shoulder.

Hinata stood alone in the center of the drawing room with both hands outstretched and her mouth working soundlessly in a most unladylike manner. It took several minutes for her to compose herself, something that would have brought her great shame if there had been anyone there to witness her moment of vulnerability. Eventually she was able to pull her jaw back up and straighten her shoulders just in time for another figure to enter the room.

The housekeeper looked at her with both beady eyes narrowed in suspicion, her uniform as immaculate as befitting someone who served such a noble house. Hinata hated her. It wasn't very often she allowed herself such uncouth thoughts but by all the gods she hated this woman.

"My lady," the woman greeted her with a grudging curtsy. "Do you not wish to retire to your room?"

"Of course. I only worried that venturing in to the halls might bring me in touch with unsavory company." A gentle smile concealed the truth that the housekeeper was that very company she had wished to avoid.

"Very well. The hallways are clear now, should you wish to retire. I shall have dinner brought to you as per your father's instructions."

Hinata nodded once then swept herself away, chin up head and thoughts racing ahead of her. Whether or not Haruko realized it, she had offered Hinata more than just a path towards freedom. She had offered a chance to make up for the lifetime they had spent apart.

Because Hinata had been a good daughter for long enough. It was time she started being a good sister too.